KATHMANDU, AUGUST 3
Hundreds of victims of cooperatives, who joined a demonstration, clashed with police this afternoon at Bijulibazar.
The agitating victims who had put forth their demands peacefully in earlier demonstrations were more aggressive today. The number of participants were also comparatively higher as they marched from Maitighar towards Baneshwor chanting slogans against cooperatives and demanding their money back.
Normally, they would march up to Baneshwor and then stage a sit-in. But today, police stopped them at Bijulibazar and prevented them from moving ahead.
Protesters displayed placards and chanted slogans demanding that the erring cooperative operators and employees be punished and their savings returned.
Angered by the police action, the protesters tried to breach the police barricade resulting in a scuffle with police.
Dozens of protesters were arrested. They were later released.
People from all walks of life who had deposited their hard earned money in community-based financial institutions, popularly known as cooperatives, have been denied their deposit money lately.
The number of such cooperatives, which used to be a handful a couple of years ago, has now grown exponentially across the country.
Hundreds of cooperatives across the country are unable to return the money deposited by people.
The cooperatives normally work by collecting money from the public and lending the amount at higher interest rate.
However, the operators often invest money in businesses that do not reap benefits or even embezzle the money collected from people, thereby creating the current situation.
It is estimated that there are thousands of victims of cooperatives across the country. However, the government has failed to ameliorate the situation.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 4, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
